House Breaking setback

bmumph · Post by **bmumph** » Tue Sep 15, 2015 8:07 am

I have 1.5 year old GSP. She has been house broken for over a year now and has been trustworthy enough to not need to be kenneled when we are not home. We recently brought home a new addition/hunter to our family (my son). It's been about a week and the dog is has had a couple of accidents in the house. Once or twice she peed in the baby's room and in the middle of the night she peed by the back door. I know the new baby has probably upset the balance in her world, but I'm hoping this is not going to become a common occurrence. Do I need to start kenneling her again? I'm not sure that's the answer, since her accidents have occurred when we where home. Any suggestions on getting her pass this?

shags · Post by **shags** » Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:00 pm

To give the dog the benefit of the doubt, have her vet checked for a UTI.

Then, get after her and reinforce her housebreaking. Some folks don't correct a dog for a misdeed after the fact, but IME my dogs have responded to being reprimanded for 'accidents' ( really, more like 'on purposes') well after they did it. I drag them to the puddle and and give them a good shake with "NO PEE!" and it usually straightens things out. However, I will usually crate them or keep them outside for a while, during those times they had misbehaved ( like overnight if that's when they broke the rules).

Good luck with the dog, and congrats on your new little son.

Bill Wolfe · Post by **Bill Wolfe** » Thu Sep 17, 2015 8:18 pm

You're liable to get a variety of answers on this one. I'm with the previous poster that a visit to the vet may be in order. In your situation, if there were no medical issues detected, I'd go back crating her at night and watching her as well as you can manage at other times when she's in the house. I crate Gilley every night and just never leave him unattended in the house, on the principle that prevention is often easier than correction. It's not handled as a punishment and doesn't seem to bother him.

Before I assumed your girl was acting out or giving her any sort of punishment or reprimand, I'd ask whether the new baby has reduced her opportunities for potty breaks. Has her schedule of outdoor training, walks, etc, stayed the same since you brought baby home? If you have a fenced yard or outdoor kennel run, maybe more time outside is in the cards until your family routine settles a bit. Congrats! And Good Luck!
Bill

Txgermanpointer · Post by **Txgermanpointer** » Sat Sep 19, 2015 6:45 am

We have a 2 year old female GSP. I've noticed that she has to go outside much more frequently when she's excited due to "happy pee". Look for small hints from your dog trying to tell you that she needs to go out, such as pacing back & forth, in circles, or just simply stating at you. Sometimes Millie's hints are very subtle and hard to notice, but 99% of the time she tries. Her few accidents she's had are more my fault than hers. Good luck.

Big bloc · Post by **Big bloc** » Sun Sep 20, 2015 9:02 am

Have her checked out. Mine I thought was peeing but to find out she had a bladder issue. She would leak while laying down resting. Even if we just came from being outside. I had to put her on meds to control it. Good luck

bmumph · Post by **bmumph** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 7:47 am

I took her to the vet and it turns out she has vaginitis. One of the symptoms is urinary incontinence. We are treating the issue now and we haven't had any other incidences. I guess it was just a coincidence that it happened the same time we brought a new member of the family home. Thanks for all the advice.

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